Alumni Spotlight - George Pyne '89

Jul 08, 2014

BrownBears.com will feature one former male and female
student-athlete each month who has gone on to achieve success in
the workplace, as well as exhibit the spirit of Brown University
within the community. The monthly installments will provide
highlights of the selectees’ athletic careers at Brown and
offer a glimpse into their current career
paths.

Alumni
Spotlight – George Pyne ‘89

One of Brown’s most distinguished student-athletes of all
time, former football standout George Pyne ’89 has showcased
success on and off the field. A two-year starter for the
Bears in 1987-88, Pyne set the standard for offensive linemen,
earning All-Ivy recognition in 1987 and All-New England Accolades
in 1988 while claiming the team’s Paul K. Sloan Award that
season.

After working with his family’s real estate business and
the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce after graduation, Pyne’s
first foray into the sports marketing business began while with
Portman Companies, where he underwrote $600,000 worth of sales for
an NFL Players Association sponsored hospitality event prior to
Super Bowl XXVIII. The event was designed to accommodate
guests, former NFL players, and VIPs in the week leading up to the
game between the Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys. The event
became such a smashing success that Pyne became Portman’s
Executive Director of AMC Events, a division of the company that
focuses on the marketing of sports-related properties.

One of Pyne’s clients at Portman, NASCAR, eventually
recruited him as the organization’s head of new business
development in 1995. After later becoming NASCAR’s
Chief Operating Officer, Pyne’s tenure was highlighted by
striking a $4.5 billion television rights package in 2005 and a
$750 million sponsorship of the Nextel Cup Series in 2004.

In 2006, Pyne departed NASCAR to join IMG, where he currently
serves as its President of Sports and Entertainment and a member of
its board of directors. At IMG, Pyne supervised the
acquisition of The Collegiate Licensing Company, allowing the
organization to enter the collegiate sports market and conduct
business with over 200 colleges and universities nationwide.
For his efforts at IMG, Pyne was anointed as one of Bloomberg
BusinessWeek’s Top 100 Most Influential People in
Professional Sports and appeared three times on the Sports
Business Journal’s “Forty Under Forty”
list.

In 2013, Pyne was the National Football Foundation’s
inaugural inductee into its Leadership Hall of Fame. He also earned
the NCAA Silver Anniversary Award in 2014, an award that recognizes
distinguished individuals on the 25th anniversary of the
conclusion of the their collegiate careers. That 2014 Silver
Anniversary class included Earl Martin Phelan, Katey Stone, Dana
Torres, and former NFL players Troy Aikman and Rodney Peete.

Alumni and fans are encouraged to participate in the Alumni
Spotlight nomination process by submitting nominees to athleticcommunication@brown.edu.
Nominations should include: notable career achievements, current
occupation, location, recent photos, and notable contributions to
the community.